The protesting junior doctors on Sunday said they still wanted a dialogue with the state government but demanded that the offer come from the administration this time, keeping in mind Saturday evening’s fiasco.

The medics, on a cease-work since the August 9 rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Hospital, said they were disappointed that discussions with chief minister Mamata Banerjee were aborted on Saturday despite their eventual
acceptance of the state government’s terms.

“We are disappointed with what happened on Saturday. We had agreed to all the terms set by the state government but they did not talk to us,” Sayantani Ghosh Hazra, a junior doctor from the KPC Medical College and Hospital, said.

“We are still open to any smooth conversation with the chief minister and the state government to resolve the impasse.”

A 40-member delegation of junior doctors had come to Mamata’s Kalighat home
on Saturday evening but the talks could not start as the medics demanded that the discussions be either live-streamed or video-recorded by both sides.

By the time the junior doctors had agreed to drop these preconditions — more than two hours after arriving outside Mamata’s home — state government officials said it was “too late” for talks. Many of the junior doctors were in tears while boarding the
bus back to Salt Lake, where they have been squatting since September 10 before
Swasthya Bhavan.

Earlier on Thursday, the same demand for live-streaming had prevented talks with the chief minister at Nabanna.

On Sunday afternoon, junior doctors marched from Central Park in Salt Lake to Swasthya Bhavan. The city witnessed other protest marches too, including one by ex-students of Calcutta Girls’ School, from Wellington Square to Shyambazar, and another by those of the Purulia Sainik School, from Jadavpur 8B Bus Stand to Deshapriya Park.

Aniket Mahato, a junior doctor who had gone to Mamata’s home on Saturday, said the state government should come forward to initiate a dialogue. “It is unlikely that the junior doctors will agree to write seeking a meeting. The state government should step forward and take the initiative this time because they refused to talk to us on Saturday even after we agreed to their terms.”

Bipresh Chakraborty, a junior doctor at SSKM Hospital, said the protesting doctors were in touch with lawyers to find out whether the Supreme Court might object to the live-streaming of a meeting with the chief minister, or its video-graphing by both sides.

“This has been our standing demand as we want to ensure 100 per cent transparency,” he said. “Besides, we have serious trust issues with this government. Our legal team in the Supreme Court is most likely to ask this on our behalf.”

The proposal for Saturday’s talks had come from the junior doctors, while Thursday’s dialogue had been agreed on following an exchange of emails between the two sides.

If the state government does come out with a talks offer, the junior doctors plan to accept it and go to the discussions with their multiple demands, a medic said.

The demands are: the identification and arrest of “all the culprits”; clarity on the motive of the crime; the resignation of police commissioner Vineet Goyal; disciplinary action against then RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh; the safety of doctors and all other healthcare workers; an end to the “reign of fear” at medical colleges; and the resignations of the health secretary, director of medical education and the director of health services.

The junior doctors say they have been vindicated by the arrests of Abhijit Mondal — former officer-in-charge, Tala police station — and Sandip Ghosh by the CBI in connection with the rape-and-murder case.

Amrita Bhattacharya, a postgraduate trainee, said the deadlock could be broken only through talks.

“We, as citizens, have a right to protest. We have faith in the Supreme Court and the CBI. The arrests on Saturday prove our point beyond doubt that evidence-tampering was done,” she said.

“We are always open to talks but we also want full transparency. We had even agreed (on Saturday) to the chief minister’s offer of handing out the minutes of the meeting (instead of live-streaming) but we were asked to leave.”

Before Sunday afternoon’s march, many junior doctors spent the morning and early afternoon under sheets of tarpaulin in front of Swasthya Bhavan, protecting themselves from the spells of rain. They also discussed how to present their case when the Supreme Court next hears the matter on Tuesday.

The Indian Medical Association’s Bengal chapter and the Joint Platform of Doctors, an umbrella organisation of several doctors’ associations, have demanded an end to the impasse.

“We want a resolution of the present stalemate. There should be transparent discussions between the state government and junior doctors,” said Punyabrata Goon, a joint convener of the JPD.